I was idly surfing the web the other day and I came across a report in the Irish Times where the Prime Minister admitted erroneously claiming that Lenin had visited Ireland in the company of Michael Collins.
Lenin of course did no such thing. The thing which interested me was the claim that Lenin spoke English with a ‘Rathmines accent’.
Nothing wrong with that. Just unexpected. Following his long exile in Switzerland I would have expected his English to be German accented if anything. However the idea of Lenin speaking with a Dublin accent has clearly intrigued others as this excellent and well researched post shows.
It is of course, not impossible that Lenin had an Irish accent. What’s intriguing is that if it’s so no one seems to have mentioned it. For example, Arthur Ransome recounts a number of conversations with Lenin in 1919, but doesn’t mention his accent ( or indeed what language they spoke together) …
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Check out Roddy Connolly – son of James. He met Lenin in 1920 and said he had a Rathmines accent. He learned English in London , apparently from a Dublin man. Krupskaya said her husband understood Irish speakers of English better too.
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